Thai footballers rescued from cave make public appearance after hospital discharge

In a carefully choreographed media conference, the Wild Boars football team appeared well and in good spirits after more than a week recovering in hospital.

During their first public appearance since being saved, the boys, who are part of the football team Wild Boars, joined the Seals to have a kick about.

The boys put on a quick demonstration of their ball-handling skills in a special miniature soccer field set up in the hall where they met the media.

The boys smiled, joked and laughed as they told their stories and thanked the Navy SEALs who got them out.

Following Wednesday's news conference, about 30 relatives gathered at 13-year-old Duangpetch Promthep's house to welcome him home, clapping their hands and cheering.

"Bringing the Wild Boars Home", read a banner in Thai that greeted the soccer team on the set, created to resemble a soccer field, complete with goalposts and nets, where the boys sat on a dais, beside five members of the rescue team.

Meanwhile, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk issued an apology to British cave diver Vernon Unsworth who he had called "pedo guy" in a row over a mini-submarine the billionaire had sent to help with the rescue mission.

Numerous boys apologized to their parents for not telling them they went to the cave.

After realizing they were trapped, Ekapol said the group tried to get out of the cave through the same route they came in but failed due to the high water, as many sections of the kilometers-long cave had become flooded by the monsoon rains.

When the British divers breached the surface, Adun said he was so shocked, all he could think to say was "hello!"

The group had planned to explore the cave for about an hour after football practice on June 23.

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Ake said it came down to "whoever raised their hands first would go out first. some of them didn't want to go because they wanted to stay with the Seals".

While they had preplanned the trip, communicating on Facebook, they brought no food and or drinking water. "We realised that we were stranded".

"We could not go out but what we could do is dig at the cave wall because at least we could do something", the boy said.

Adul said he took the flashlight and rushed down towards the divers, then when they surfaced to talk, "I said hi".

"My opinion was, if we are not able to [find] that way out, then we will die in the middle", another added. It was the first glimmer of hope, they said.

The coach, also known as Ake, said all were saddened by the death of Thai Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, who was the lone casualty in the efforts to rescue the boys.

Saman Kunan retired from the military in 2006 and worked at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport before volunteering to help when news broke of the boys being trapped.

"We would like to present our condolences to his family". We slept at this sand spot. "Whatever he wants we'll do it for him".

Wearing matching team jerseys, the boys - who were released from the hospital early on Wednesday - looked happy to be back home after nearly a month away. He added that he was grateful to everyone. I really want to get out so much. Ardoon, 14, said though people can't predict the future, the experience had taught him about the consequences of acting careless. "I had to pick up a Japanese reporter from the airport at 2 a.m.", said tour operator Manop Netsuwan. A video was also shown of them thanking hospital staff.

The family of one of the boys is preparing their home for his return on Wednesday night.

"We don't know what wounds the kids are carrying in their hearts", said justice ministry official Tawatchai Thaikaew, who asked for the boys' privacy to be respected after the discharge, for fear that media attention could affect their mental health.

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